| macrologia | |
| ma-cro-lo'-gi-a | from Gk. macro, "long" and logos, "speaking" |
| macrology | |
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Longwindedness. Using more words than are necessary in an attempt to appear eloquent. | |
| Examples | ||
| Polonius
exemplifies macrologia in the following speech from Hamlet. My liege, and madam, to expostulate What majesty should be, what duty is, Why day is day, night night, and time is time, Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time; Therefore, [since] brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief. Your noble son is mad: Mad call I it, for to define true madness, What is't but to be nothing else but mad? —Shakespeare, Hamlet 2.2.86-94 |
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| See Also | ||
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| Sources: | Primary sources Sherry (1550) 34; Peacham (1577) F2v; Day 1599 82 | |
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